Chasing the Sun: Riverside Photographers 1880-1930

Exhibit Open July 2, 2015 - July 20, 2016 (This Exhibit is now CLOSED)

“Chasing the Sun: Riverside Photographers 1880-1930,” approaches early photographs of
the city of Riverside with a focus on the other side of the camera. The exhibit
explores Riverside’s history through investigation of the works of C.T. Collier,
the McMillens, and E.N. Fairchild, as well as several lesser-known
photographers. Their experiences illustrate the broader history of commercial
photography in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a time of
rapid technological changes and the birth of photography. The Riverside
Metropolitan Museum and the California Museum of Photography are proud to
present these rare historic cityscapes, portraits, and cameras from their
collections to show the entrepreneurial spirit of Riverside pioneers and the
early history of the city.

A photographer named H.W. Shaw established the first
photography studio in Riverside in 1880, ten years after the
founding of the city. He gave up the studio after only one year
by selling it to an established photographer who had just
moved to Riverside from Massachusetts. Only a few small
portraits bearing Shaw’s imprint survive today, but his
short-lived business kicked off an industry that has
remained vibrant in Riverside ever since.
Shaw and the photographers that followed him in the
next few decades are little-known names today. In some cases,
only a handful of photographs by these artists survive; in
other cases, only their names in old newspaper
advertisements and city directories remain, but not any
photographs. Part of this might be credited to how
short-lived many studios were. Being a photographer in a
burgeoning town was difficult business. During hard times,
such as the panic of 1893 and the recession that followed,
people were far less likely to spend money on luxuries like
having their portrait made or getting a professional picture
of their home or farms.
Other photographers left a much stronger visual legacy. C.T.
Collier and S.P. Tresslar each worked in Riverside for nine
years: Collier between 1884 and 1893, and Tresslar,
Collier’s successor, between 1893 and 1902. Their output was
incredibly prolific, and both made a wide variety of
photographs documenting a breadth of subjects around the
city, including downtown businesses, Fairmount Park,
Magnolia Avenue, and orchards.

In the early twentieth century, a growing number of people
owned their own cameras and found a hobby in photography.
Some of the studios, including Tresslar’s, operated public
darkrooms, so that members of the community could develop
their own film and make their own prints. Despite many
people taking up photography, commercial photographers like
E.N. Fairchild and Avery Field thrived. The legacy of their
images survives intact, too. Unlike the earlier
photographers, both Fairchild and Field have archives of
their work preserved in Riverside. The museum’s photographs
are joined by cameras loaned from the California Museum of
Photography, which help visualize the sort of equipment
Riverside’s photographers may have been using.